Stone imports are up, so where is the recovery?

As I walked around two of the major international
trade fairs earlier this year - Coverings in the U.S. and the Vitória Stone
Fair in Brazil - major exporters were telling me that sales to the American
market had decidedly increased for the first quarter of 2010. They told me that
some of the major U.S.
distributors were finally replenishing their inventories, and in particular,
the Brazilian suppliers told me that while their factories were not operating
at full capacity, they were certainly more busy than last year. When I
personally visited these Brazilian factories earlier this year, they certainly
seemed busier than they did 12 months earlier.

The stone import statistics compiled by the U.S. Department of Commerce
certainly seem to confirm this positive trend. During the last month recorded -
March of 2010 - granite imports increased nearly 40% to a total of $60.18
million. Looking at individual stone-producing nations, there was definitely a
reason that the Brazilian suppliers were smiling. Their exports to the U.S. increased
by around 67% for the month, reaching a total of $24.34 million. Major
granite-producing nations such as Italy, China and India also saw notable
increases for the month, ranging from 10 to 20%.

These are some serious numbers, so why doesn’t it seem like the recovery for
our industry is in full swing? From my vantage point, it seems that while most
fabricators agree that the market is much more lively than it was a year ago,
there are still “dead periods” in between the busy weeks.

“We had a pretty good January, February and March, but then April was dead,”
said Mike Martinez of Stone Concepts of Colorado in Brighton, CO. “Now it has
picked up again, but it is hard to say if it has improved.”

These thoughts were echoed by Mitch Hires of Construction Resources, which has
multiple stone-fabrication branches located in the Southeastern
U.S. “Our Atlanta facility is capable of producing 2,000 feet per
day by itself, and right now we are working at 1,300 to 1,500 square feet per
day,” he said. “We had a spike in business that started in March, and a lot was
related to the tax credit. Our January and February was not good. January was
due to the weather, as we’re not used to snow and rain here in the south. I am
cautiously optimistic because production builder business and single-family
business has increased, but we have also seen residential remodel and
commercial increases.”

The bottom line is that while the stone industry in the U.S. market is
improving, inconsistencies will remain - particularly in the short term. The
critical element for stone fabricators and other industry members is to
remember that the industry, as a whole, is on the rise. With this in mind, it
is important to make sure that at least some portion of your business plan is
to consider the long-term success of your operation - which was not always an
option for everyone last year. The difficulties of 2009 were summed up
admirably by Ron Hannah of Cadenza Granite & Marble, Inc. in Concord, NC,
at a recent Stone Fabricators Alliance Workshop (covered on page 70 in this
issue). “Our business plan was simply to stay in business,” he said. “We wanted
to keep the shop busy, and we even started doing big-box
work.”

Fortunately, most fabricators doing business this year are seeing increased
sales, and even if the growth is inconsistent, they are able to implement some
long-range strategies into their business model. Moreover, a number of shops
are finally beginning to bring in new large-scale stoneworking equipment. This
was true on the show floor at Coverings, and it remains the case today as we
speak with fabricators across the country. As always, we will be covering these
investments - and the gradual rebound of our industry - here on the pages of
Stone World.

In the December 2016 issue, we look at some highlights of the Marmo+Mac 2016, and the new renovations of the Freemasons' Hall in London, England. We also present some new products, technology updates, machine of the month, and stone of the month.

For this issue, we are excited to share with you four features that focus on using compact and ultrathin slabs in both residential and commercial projects. As these products continue to gain popularity, we wanted to share different ideas of applications, including an upscale dining environment in the interior of a Saks Fifth Avenue.